Fugitive Zain Dean’s bail request fails in Edinburgh

BACK BEHIND BARS:On Monday, Zain Dean’s attorney asked for the postponement of extradition hearings scheduled for Jan. 8 and Jan. 9, a request that was denied

By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter

A court in Edinburgh, Scotland, yesterday ruled that British fugitive Zain Dean, who was sentenced to four years in prison in a fatal hit-and-run case in August last year before fleeing Taiwan, should remain in detention, Taipei Representative Office in the UK Assistant Director Yin Wen-hsin (尹文新) said last night.

Dean’s request for release on bail was rejected by the high court in Edinburgh because the court found the ruling on the detention of Dean handed down by a Scottish district court to have been flawless, Yin said by telephone.

Since Dean was arrested by Scottish police on Oct. 17, yesterday marked his sixth attempt to be released.

Yin, who attended the bail bond hearing yesterday, said that Dean’s attorney did not present any new evidence to the court to request his client’s release.

After yesterday’s request was denied, Dean has exhausted the procedures to request that bail be granted unless new evidence is produced, Yin said.

According to the Ministry of Justice, at a court hearing on Monday, Dean’s attorney asked for the postponement of hearings scheduled for Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 to rule on a request made by the Taiwanese government that Dean be extradited to Taiwan to face trial, but his request was denied.

Dean served as chief executive of UK-based NCL Media’s Taiwan branch before he fled the country. Taiwanese prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest in January.